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Is this scenario familiar? The administration decides that the staff need professional development to integrate a new SEL approach into the classroom. They know that teachers need more than one day of seminars to adjust their classroom methods, so leadership provides training over several weeks. Once the school year begins, administrators observe the teachers to check their progress, but only a few have integrated the SEL approach into their lessons. The professional development, despite the in-depth training, wasn’t impactful enough.

Is this the fault of the teachers? Not according to PD experts during the edLeader Panel “Crafting Impactful PD for Teachers and Leaders.” In fact, even as schools have moved away from the traditional one-and-done PD, leaders still find that their staff aren’t necessarily taking what they’ve learned in these sessions and putting them into practice. The panelists offered six strategies for offering meaningful PD that teachers will embrace and implement.

1. Define your culture

The first step isn’t creating PD, but understanding what type of culture you are trying to create for staff and students. Define what you want the core values to be and the behaviors that exhibit those values. Then, choose PD that will help you build the behaviors to support your culture.

2. Ask teachers what they need

This seems simple, but often teachers are told what skills they are lacking or what practices they should be using in the classroom. Instead, ask them—the people who know their classrooms the best—what they think the students need, what they think their own skills are, and what they could use to improve them. Just as students want agency in their own learning, so do the educators.

3. Have clarity of purpose

Before scheduling any PD, leaders should understand the goals. What are they doing, why are they doing it, how will they implement and support it in the schools, and what are the expected outcomes? When everyone involved has the same expectations, they are more likely to work on achieving the goals.

4. Be intentional in your instructional design

Your staff will have varying levels of knowledge about the subject, years in the classroom, and experience with implementing new classroom approaches. In addition, just like the students, they will also have different modes of learning. Before scheduling the PD, ask the teachers what they know about the topic; also find out what PD experiences have worked for them. Create differentiated lessons for the teachers so that each of them has a chance at success.

5. Let them practice

As with any new skills, teachers will need to practice using the lessons from the PD, and not just in a simulated classroom. They need the space to experiment with how they will incorporate the new skills and support from the administration as they implement them. This could mean providing additional training or resources, letting teachers collaborate and model lessons for each other, etc. The essence is to not expect immediate success but to provide them with the tools to reach achievable goals.

6. Gather data

All PD efforts should have measurable outcomes as part of the plan. In addition to gathering information prior to the training, collect feedback during the sessions on what’s working, what’s not working, and why. And then make sure you are tracking implementation and the impact on student success. Finally, don’t forget to share the data with your staff. Celebrate all successes and gather their input on how to make improvements.

Of course, funding for PD remains a constant challenge. While cultivating staff skills should be a priority in schools and districts, the reality is that budgets are often limited. However, the panelists believe schools often overlook the most effective trainers: their own teachers. Reward the talent you have by letting them serve as models. Let them create PD that is district and community specific. And when teachers are able to access outside PD, make sure they bring it back and share it with the whole community.

Learn more about this edWeb broadcast, Crafting Impactful PD for Teachers and Leaders, sponsored by HMH Professional Learning.

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At HMH, we believe that when educators feel equipped and supported by their educational community, it creates learning environments where students can thrive. So, we partner with schools and districts to foster a culture of professional growth through relevant, ongoing professional learning for every educator, from the classroom to the boardroom.

Article by Stacey Pusey, based on this edLeader Panel